About me

This blogname was derived from the novel The Secret Life Of Saeed The Pessoptimist by the Palestinian Israeli Emile Habiby: absurdism as weapon against the (ir)realities of daily life in Palestine/Israel. (The subtitle is from a book by Dutch author Renate Rubinstein. It could as well be my motto).
My real name is Martin (Maarten Jan) Hijmans. I've been covering the ME since 1977 and have been a correspondent in Cairo. I started my 'Abu Pessoptimist' blog in January 2009 out of anger during the onslaught in Gaza. The other one, The Pessoptmist, is meant to be a sister version in English. (En voor de Nederlandstaligen: ik wilde in november 2009 een tweede blog in het Engels beginnen en ontdekte te laat dat als je één account hebt, een profiel dan meteen ook voor allebei de blogs geldt. Vandaar dat het nu ineens in het Engels is... So sorry.)

Monday, July 4, 2016

IS kills at least 250 with truck bomb in Baghdad

Update: The death toll has reached 250 on Wednesday. It is the deadliest attack since the Americn invasion of 2003. the minister of the Interior has offred to resign.
Anger is growing in Baghdad over the government's failure to protect civilians, after a devastating bombing in a crowded commercial area in
the Iraqi capital killed more than 200 people, including many children.
The powerful explosion early on Sunday came near the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when the streets were filled with young
people and families out after sunset. The death toll from the blast in Karada, a predominantly Shia neighbourhood in central Baghdad, rose to over 200 on Monday morning, as the bodies of more victims were pulled from the rubble.Hundreds were wounded when a lorry packed with explosives blew up in a busy shopping street filled with people after they had broken their fast.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (IS or ISIL)group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement circulated by
its supporters online. The group, which has claimed numerous deadly bombings in mainly Shia areas of Baghdad, alleged that a suicide bomber targeted a crowd of Shia Muslims.Many of the victims were women and children who were inside a multi-storey shopping and amusement mall. Dozens burned to death or
suffocated, a police officer said. There were fears the death toll could rise even further.Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi condemned the bombing and declared three days of mourning across the country after visiting the scene of
the attack.